Differences In Relative Timing Research Articles

Characterization of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in a pig model with novel CW T1r and RAFF2 MRI methods in 1.5T

Abstract Introduction Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) occurs after myocardial infarction when reperfusion aggravates the initial damage in myocardium by vast infiltration of inflammatory cells and elevated oxidative stress in myocardium that may lead to cardiac remodeling, heart failure and even death [1]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can accurately determine the anatomy of the heart and to characterize myocardial tissue. Novel endogenous rotating frame MRI methods, including continuous wave (CW) T1r and relaxation along a fictitious field with rank 2 (RAFF2), have been shown to characterize MI and other CVD in mouse and human myocardium with high sensitivity and specificity [2,3]. CW T1r and RAFF2 contrasts are occurring during radio frequency (RF) pulse (in kHz range) making them to be sensitive to slow molecular motions [2]. Comparing to conventional endogenous T1 and T2 methods, these are occurring after the RF pulse (in Larmor frequency (MHz) range) and therefore, these are non-selectively sensitive to different correlation times [4]. Golden standard to image MI is to use contrast agent (CA) in late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) method [2,4]. Using CA has drawbacks and therefore, there is an urgent need for optimizing the endogenous MRI methods in clinical practice. Purpose To characterize myocardial IRI in a pig model and to determine the sensitivity of both novel and conventional cardiac MRI methods. Methods IRI operation was done in 7 pig (30-35 kg) by occluding the LAD with a balloon catheter for 50 minutes. Imaging was done with 1.5T (MAGNETOM Aera) at 3 days and 28 days after the operation. Pig hearts were imaged with conventional native T1, T2, LGE, and with novel CW T1r and RAFF2 methods in both time points. These were imaged before CA injection and LGE was done 25 minutes after CA injection. Relaxation time mappings were done in a pixel-by-pixel manner with monoexponentially fitting. Region-of-interest (ROI) analysis was done to determine the relaxation times in IRI and remote areas. LGE was used to confirm the IRI areas in the myocardium. Relative relaxation time difference (RRTD)-values were calculated with the function of (((Relaxation Time of IRI area) – (Relaxation Time of Remote Area))/ (Relaxation Time of Remote Area)) to determine the contrast difference between IRI and remote areas. Results Relaxation times were elevated in IRI areas compared to remote areas (Figure 1A). Novel rotating frame RRTD-values were significantly higher than RRTD-values in conventional methods. This means that novel methods have larger contrast difference between IRI and remote areas compared to conventional methods, which indicates that novel methods are sensitive to characterize IRI area (Figure 1B). The location of MI areas was similar in both novel rotating frame and conventional methods compared to LGE (Figure 2). Conclusion Novel rotating frame relaxation time methods are sensitive to characterize the IRI area in pig model.Relaxation times, RRTD-valuesRelaxation times maps and LGE

Gait phase normalization resolves the problem of different phases being compared in gait cycle normalization

For time-continuous analysis of gait, the problem of variations in cycle durations is resolved by normalizing to the gait cycle, but results depend on the definition of the cycle start. Gait cycle normalization ignores variations in gait phase durations, which results in averaging and comparing data across different phases. We propose gait phase normalization as part of a comprehensive method for independently analyzing magnitude and timing differences. First, gait phases are identified and differences in absolute and/or relative timing of phase durations or any point of interest between conditions or groups are analyzed using standard statistics. Next, time-continuous gait data is normalized to gait phases, and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) is used to assess magnitude differences in gait data. This approach is demonstrated on data recorded from ten young healthy adults walking on a treadmill at five different speeds. Sagittal knee angle was normalized to gait cycle or gait phase using five different gait cycle start events. Walking at different speeds resulted in significant changes in gait phase durations, highlighting a problem ignored by gait cycle normalization. SPM results for knee angle normalized to gait cycle varied from normalization to gait phases. Gait phase normalized SPM results were robust to the definition of the cycle start, in contrast to gait cycle normalized data. The approach of analyzing phase durations and normalizing data to gait phases overcomes previous limitations and enables a comprehensive analysis of magnitude and timing differences in time-continuous gait data and could be readily adapted to other tasks.

The Effects of Motionless Interventions Based on Visual-Auditory Instructions With Sonification on Learning a Rhythmic Motor Skill.

Our aim in this study was to investigate the effects of motionless interventions, based on visual-auditory integration with a sonification technique, on the learning a complex rhythmic motor skill. We recruited 22 male participants with high physical fitness and provided them four acquisition sessions in which to practice hurdle running, based on a visual-auditory instructional pattern. Next, we divided participants into three groups: visual-auditory, auditory, and control. In six sessions of motionless interventions, with no physical practice, participants in the visual-auditory group received a visual-auditory pattern similar to their experience during the acquisition period. The auditory group only listened to the sound of sonified movements of an expert hurdler, and the control group received no instructional interventions. Finally, participants in all three groups underwent post-intervention and transfer tests to determine their errors in the spatial and relative timing of their leading leg's knee angular displacement. Both visual-auditory and auditory groups had significantly less spatial error than the control group. However, there were no significant group differences in relative timing in any test phase. These results indicate that the use of the sonification technique in the form of visual-auditory instruction adapted to the athletes' needs benefitted perception-sensory capacities to improve motor skill learning.

Validation of the Activ8 Activity Monitor for Monitoring Postures, Motions, Transfers, and Steps of Hospitalized Patients.

Sedentary behaviors and low physical activity among hospitalized patients have detrimental effects on health and recovery. Wearable activity monitors are a promising tool to promote mobilization and physical activity. However, existing devices have limitations in terms of their outcomes and validity. The Activ8 device was optimized for the hospital setting. This study assessed the concurrent validity of the modified Activ8. Hospital patients performed an activity protocol that included basic (e.g., walking) and functional activities (e.g., room activities), with video recordings serving as the criterion method. The assessed outcomes were time spent walking, standing, upright, sedentary, and newly added elements of steps and transfers. Absolute and relative time differences were calculated, and Wilcoxon and Bland-Altman analyses were conducted. Overall, the observed relative time differences were lower than 2.9% for the basic protocol and 9.6% for the functional protocol. Statistically significant differences were detected in specific categories, including basic standing (p < 0.05), upright time (p < 0.01), and sedentary time (p < 0.01), but they did not exceed the predetermined 10% acceptable threshold. The modified Activ8 device is a valid tool for assessing body postures, motions, steps, and transfer counts in hospitalized patients. This study highlights the potential of wearable activity monitors to accurately monitor and promote PA among hospital patients.

CausalCmprsk: An R package for nonparametric and Cox-based estimation of average treatment effects in competing risks data

Background and ObjectiveCompeting risks data arise in both observational and experimental clinical studies with time-to-event outcomes, when each patient might follow one of the multiple mutually exclusive competing paths. Ignoring competing risks in the analysis can result in biased conclusions. In addition, possible confounding bias of the treatment-outcome relationship has to be addressed, when estimating treatment effects from observational data. In order to provide tools for estimation of average treatment effects on time-to-event outcomes in the presence of competing risks, we developed the R package causalCmprsk. We illustrate the package functionality in the estimation of effects of a right heart catheterization procedure on discharge and in-hospital death from observational data. MethodsThe causalCmprsk package implements an inverse probability weighting estimation approach, aiming to emulate baseline randomization and alleviate possible treatment selection bias. The package allows for different types of weights, representing different target populations. causalCmprsk builds on existing methods from survival analysis and adapts them to the causal analysis in non-parametric and semi-parametric frameworks. ResultsThe causalCmprsk package has two main functions: fit.cox assumes a semiparametric structural Cox proportional hazards model for the counterfactual cause-specific hazards, while fit.nonpar does not impose any structural assumptions. In both frameworks, causalCmprsk implements estimators of (i) absolute risks for each treatment arm, e.g., cumulative hazards or cumulative incidence functions, and (ii) relative treatment effects, e.g., hazard ratios, or restricted mean time differences. The latter treatment effect measure translates the treatment effect from probability into more intuitive time domain and allows the user to quantify, for example, by how many days or months the treatment accelerates the recovery or postpones illness or death. ConclusionsThe causalCmprsk package provides a convenient and useful tool for causal analysis of competing risks data. It allows the user to distinguish between different causes of the end of follow-up and provides several time-varying measures of treatment effects. The package is accompanied by a vignette that contains more details, examples and code, making the package accessible even for non-expert users.

A method for locating abnormal sound in transmission line channels based on time delay estimation and equipment coordinates

To get rid of the current transmission line visual monitoring device which only relies on a single photo-monitoring method, this paper proposes a method based on time-delay estimation and equipment coordinates to locate abnormal sound in the transmission line channel. Firstly, the audio-visual equipment is selected to collect the abnormal sound information of any transmission line as the reference warning record, and the relative time difference between other warning records and the reference warning record is determined. Then, the corresponding audio-visual equipment of the reference alarm record is used as a reference point to set up a Cartesian coordinate system, obtain the GPS information of other audio-visual equipment, unify the GPS information, and get the coordinates of other audio-visual equipment; finally, based on the reference point coordinates, other audio-visual equipment coordinates, and the relative time difference, the transmission channel abnormal sound source coordinates are obtained. Through the experiment of firecracker sound, we can get the firecracker sound within 2km in the open environment, which proves that the location method can effectively enhance the monitoring effect of the transmission channel.

Prediction of Intact N-Glycopeptide Retention Time Windows in Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography.

Analysis of protein glycosylation is challenging due to micro- and macro-heterogeneity of the attached glycans. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) is a mode of choice for separation of intact glycopeptides, which are inadequately resolved by reversed phase chromatography. In this work, we propose an easy-to-use model to predict retention time windows of glycopeptides in HILIC. We constructed this model based on the parameters derived from chromatographic separation of six differently glycosylated peptides obtained from tryptic digests of three plasma proteins: haptoglobin, hemopexin, and sex hormone-binding globulin. We calculated relative retention times of different glycoforms attached to the same peptide to the bi-antennary form and showed that the character of the peptide moiety did not significantly change the relative retention time differences between the glycoforms. To challenge the model, we assessed chromatographic behavior of fetuin glycopeptides experimentally, and their retention times all fell within the calculated retention time windows, which suggests that the retention time window prediction model in HILIC is sufficiently accurate. Relative retention time windows provide complementary information to mass spectrometric data, and we consider them useful for reliable determination of protein glycosylation in a site-specific manner.

AUTOMATIQUE TECHNIQUE FOR OBTAINING URBAN/SUBURBAN CHANGE DETECTION INFORMATION FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES

Abstract. Multitemporal satellite images can serve for monitoring the same geographical area on the earth and recognize potential changes that have occurred. Actually, high-resolution (HR) satellite images can provide detailed pieces of information about change detection. In the current work automatic change detection is carried out in urban and suburban areas of Crete, Greece. QuickBird images of spatial resolution 60 cm/pixel and WorldView images of resolution 30 cm/pixel, that have a relative time difference of 13 years, are utilized. The scene is classified into buildings, vegetation, water and ground as soon as multiindex representation has been applied on the images. Afterwards, automatic change detection is feasible by pixel-per-pixel comparison of the classified multi-temporal images.The water index and the vegetation index which are utilized in the current work are compared with vegetation and water detections which appear in the literature. The experimental results indicate the superiority of the particular spectral indices. Moreover, the presented methodology not only specifies if changes have arisen or not but also provides particular information regarding the types of changes. In the future, further experimentations could lead to the optimization of the proposed methodology.

A new optical photon transport model for application to high aspect ratio scintillation pillars

A new Monte Carlo model of optical photon transport has been developed for application to scintillation pillars with side surfaces modeled using their measured 3D topography. The model addresses deficiencies of existing models specifically pertinent to high aspect ratio scintillator geometries. Inaccuracies with these models’ description of the reflectance of scintillation photons at media boundaries are exacerbated by the high number of surface interactions in such geometries. These models rely either on (a) user-specified parameters that are challenging to set, or (b) pre-computed look-up tables that assume geometrically unconstrained photon incidence on uniform surface finishes, an assumption that is invalid in high aspect ratio geometries. Alternatively, the new model reconstructs the side surfaces of a pillar from 3D topographic measurements and uses first-principles physics of reflection and transmission to transport photons over the surfaces’ microscopic features and throughout the entire pillar volume. It takes advantage of the recent availability of open-source software capable of complex surface modeling and ray-tracing, as well as high performance computing. The model was validated against measurements of the number of photoelectrons (PEs) generated in two silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) located at the ends of 5 mm × 5 mm × 200 mm EJ-204 scintillation pillars with different surface finishes. It was also validated against the relative amplitudes and arrival time difference of the SiPMs’ signals. The model accurately predicts the measurements as function of the scintillation position along the pillars’ length with 2% mean-absolute-percentage error (MAPE) in the number of PEs, and 16% in the relative amplitudes. The root-mean-squared error (RMSE) in the arrival time difference is 0.114 ns. The model also predicts the experimentally observed higher scintillation light collection in pillars with smoother side surfaces. A proof-of-concept code of the model is available as open source.

The Defender's Vision-Gaze Behavior of One-on-One Defenders in Basketball.

In fast-paced team sports, anticipation is one important element in defense strategies. The primary objective of this study was to examine the recommendation for action and use of defensive gaze strategies by defensive players in basketball. Four national-level expert-basketball coaches were interviewed and a field study with mobile eye-tracking devices was conducted on 16 expert and 16 novice players defending in a one-on-one situation. Differences in relative fixation times between experts and novices were elaborated for the predetermined gaze zones-head, ball, torso, and feet-as given by the expert coaches. This was done for three phases of the movement sequence: receiving, dribbling, and shooting. The results of the interviews with expert coaches indicated that the existing coaching doctrine instructs players to look at the torso of an opponent to avoid being vulnerable to fakes. Surprisingly, our findings with the players showed a discrepancy in the evaluated gaze behavior of the experts and novices. For the receiving and dribbling phase, experts mainly fixated their gaze on the head while novices focused on the ball. For the final shooting phase, both the groups mainly fixated their gaze on the ball. Fixating the gaze on the ball or head makes the player potentially vulnerable to deceptive movements, as video-based research has shown. Expert coaches also indicated that peripheral vision is of importance to defenders, contradicting the existing assumption in the literature that focusing on the task-relevant areas is key for anticipation performance.

Directional measurement in Borexino: Calibration of Cherenkov photons in a liquid scintillator detector using gamma sources

Borexino is a 280-ton liquid scintillator detector located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. The main goal of Borexino is to measure solar neutrinos via elastic scattering off electrons in the liquid scintillator. The electrons are then detected by the photo-multiplier tubes via isotropically emitted scintillation photons. However, in the first few nanoseconds after a neutrino interaction, Cherenkov photons (<1% of all detected photons) are also produced in the scintillator for electrons with kinetic energy >0.16 MeV. Borexino has successfully obtained the first directional measurement of sub-MeV solar neutrinos, and the 7Be solar neutrino interaction rate, through the exploitation of this Cherenkov light signal. This is performed through the so-called Correlated and Integrated Directionality (CID) method, by correlating the first few detected photons to the well-known position of the Sun and integrating the angle for a large number of events. This measurement requires a calibration of the relative time differences between Cherenkov and scintillation photons. In Borexino, we obtain this through gamma calibration sources namely, 40K and 54Mn. A group velocity correction estimated through the gamma sources is then used for the solar neutrino analysis. This article will discuss the analysis strategy and methods used for this calibration, and provide motivation for a dedicated Cherenkov calibration in next-generation liquid scintillator detectors.

The Preliminary Criterion Validity of the Activ8 Activity Monitor to Measure Physical Activity in Youth Using a Wheelchair.

The aim of this study was to assess the criterion validity of the Activ8 to detect "active wheelchair use" and to distinguish 6 types of wheelchair activities using video recordings as a gold standard. Ten participants who use a manual wheelchair were participants in this study. Data of 2 participants were used for adapting the algorithm and data of 7 participants were used for assessing the criterion validity. Criterion validity for detecting "active wheelchair use" had a relative time difference of 7.4%, agreement of 96%, sensitivity of 98.3%, and positive predictive value of 90%. Results for distinguishing 6 types of wheelchair activities had an agreement of 73%, sensitivity of 67.1%, and positive predictive value of 65.5%. The Activ8 is able to detect "active wheelchair use" in youth using a manual wheelchair. Further development of the algorithm is necessary to distinguish between different types of wheelchair activities.

Towards a more objective time standard in competitive rowing

Abstract Rowing needs a standardized Gold Medal Standard (GMS) to clearly compare performance across boat classes in competition. Here, we report a method to factor out environmental effects, developing a fairer GMS for individual rowing events. We used results from World Rowing Championships and Olympics Games (2005–2016) to calculate the difference between the fastest winning time of the day and other event winning times on the same day. From this, we calculated a prognostic GMS time for each event via repeated k-fold cross-validation linear regression. Then, we compared these values with the 10-year average winning time and the World Best Time (WBT). We repeated this process to develop prognostic podium standard (PS) times. The prognostic GMS times (RMSE = 9.47; R 2 = 0.875) were universally slower than the WBT (current GMS) by 6.2 s on average but faster than the 10-year average by 12.3 s. The prognostic PS times (RMSE = 10.5; R 2 = 897) were also slower than the WBT but faster than the 10-year average, by 12.2 and 6.3 s respectively. Our time-difference prediction model based on historical data generates non-outlier prognostic times. With the utilization of relative time difference, this approach promises a selection standard independent of environmental conditions, easily applicable across different sports.

Effect of Price and Time on Private and Shared Transportation Network Company Trips

Transportation network companies (TNCs) offer two types of service: private-party ridehailing and shared ridehailing. Policymakers have an interest in encouraging shared over private ridehailing to promote more efficient use of the transportation network. While transportation researchers have analyzed ridehailing behavior before, there is limited literature describing the effect of price and time on a rider’s choice between private-party and shared ridehailing. This paper fills this gap by analyzing revealed preferences for private-party and shared ridehailing trips in 15 American cities coupled with a survey of 4,365 users of a large TNC that includes stated preference questions focused on various alternative options for their most recent trip choice. This study finds that an increase in the relative price difference of $1 per mile increases an individual’s probability of sharing by over 8%, while a decrease in the relative travel time difference of 1 min per mile increases the probability of sharing by over 33%. The survey results also show that that a sizable proportion of private-party TNC trips (approximately 35%) will be difficult or even impossible to convert to shared rides through a price-based incentive. Market segmentation analysis reveals user and trip types where price- and time-based incentives have a relatively greater effect on the choice between private and shared rides. Finally, heterogeneity in user time versus money trade-offs suggests new product possibilities that would increase TNC sharing.

Temporal Coordination and Prosodic Structure in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Timing Across Speech and Non-speech Motor Domains.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit disordered speech prosody, but sources of disordered prosody remain poorly understood. We explored patterns of temporal alignment and prosodic grouping in a speech-based metronome repetition task as well as manual coordination in a drum tapping task among Cantonese speakers with ASD and normal nonverbal IQ and matched controls. Results indicate similar group results for prosodic grouping patterns, but significant differences in relative timing and longer syllable durations at phrase ends for the ASD group. Variability on the speech task was significantly correlated with variability on the drumming task, consistent with the view that impairment in both speech and non-speech motor domains can be linked with deficits in temporal processing.

Glide Time Relates to Mediolateral Plantar Pressure Distribution Rather Than Ski Edging in Ski Skating.

The purpose of this study was (i) to assess the differences in relative glide time and both ski edging angle and plantar pressure mediolateral distribution in skiers of different levels and (ii) to further investigate the relationships between the aforementioned variables. Twelve male cross-country skiers (6 national and 6 regional level) skied at 4.2 m s−1 on a 2.5° uphill snow track using the V2 technique. The relative glide time (in percentage of contact time) and mediolateral plantar pressure distribution variables (asymmetry index, ASI) were derived from pressure insole measurements. Ski edging angle variables were calculated from an Inertial Measurement Unit placed on the ski. Minimum, maximum, mean, and range of both ASI and ski edging angle were computed over the gliding phase, giving information about the beginning, end, and throughout the gliding phase. Relative glide time was significantly higher, and minimum and mean ASI were significantly lower in the national- than in the regional-level skiers. Relative glide time was strongly negatively correlated to minimum ASI (i.e., plantar pressure mostly on the foot lateral side at the beginning of gliding phase) and strongly positively correlated to ASI range. These results may reflect a larger body mass transfer above the ski from the beginning of the gliding phase to increase gliding, especially in the national-level skiers. Ski edging angle seems less relevant to discriminate skiers' level of performance. These results have direct consequences on how technique must be taught to young cross-country skiers.

Travel time and bounded rationality in travellers’ route choice behaviour: A computer route choice experiment

Recent empirical studies have found that travellers route choices deviate from perfect rationality, showing that urban trips do not necessary follow the shortest-time routes. However, there is no consent on how much the travellers’ route choice behaviour deviates from the perfect rational assumption. The objective of this study is to contribute to the understanding on how travellers process travel time when making route choices, and to quantify to what extent users are strict travel time minimisers or if bounded rationality is observed. The question of whether travellers evaluate travel time differences in absolute or relative terms is also addressed, and the heterogeneity in the route choice behaviour of travellers investigated.The results of route choice experiments, focused on the choices in diverse OD pairs and traffic conditions, are analysed. In total, 496 participants recorded 5535 choices over 41 OD pairs. It was found that travellers evaluate relative rather than absolute differences in travel time. In 60.5% of the trips participants chose the fastest route, but this percentage is 80% when the travel time between the fastest and the rest of the alternatives is at least 30% higher. Only 10% of the individuals chose the fastest route in all trips, confirming the hypothesis of bounded rationality. Participants exhibited heterogeneous travel time indifference bands: the average participant was indifferent to relative travel time differences of less than 31%. A mixed logit model (MXL), considering heterogeneous indifference bands is proposed. The model shows a similar predictive accuracy compared to the classical MXL model.

Full-waveform distortion characteristics of photon counting Lidar at different dead-time

The Photon Counting Lidar is widely used in the detection of far and small targets because of high sensitivity. When the laser spot covers the target, only obtaining a position and reflectivity information from each pixel can no longer meet the needs of target detection and recognition. The intensity distribution of pulse laser echo is modulated by the target. Due to the existence of dead-time, the first photon bias occurs, which causes waveform distortion between photon waveform and pulse laser echo. So studying the waveform distortion characteristics with various parameters is of great significance to acquire the target information in a single pixel. In this paper, a universal iterative detection probability calculation method is improved to quickly reconstruct the photon waveform, and three parameters of correlation distance, ratio of pulse peak, and relative time difference are defined to describe the details of the waveform distortion. The waveform distortion is analyzed at typical dead-time with various parameters, such as single-pulse photon number, pulse width, noise, and target position. The results show that when the dead-time is shorter than the time interval of targets or single-pulse photon number is less than 0.1, the correlation distance is less 5% and the waveform distortion could be negligible, while the others couldn’t. When the count of noise is less than 107/s, or the pulse width is 5% of the interval of targets, or the duration of the target position is slightly longer than the time interval of targets, the waveform distortion is minimal.

Dual-task tests discriminate between dementia, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive impairment, and healthy controls \u2013 a cross-sectional cohort study

BackgroundDiscrimination between early-stage dementia and other cognitive impairment diagnoses is central to enable appropriate interventions. Previous studies indicate that dual-task testing may be useful in such differentiation. The objective of this study was to investigate whether dual-task test outcomes discriminate between groups of individuals with dementia disorder, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive impairment, and healthy controls.MethodsA total of 464 individuals (mean age 71 years, 47% women) were included in the study, of which 298 were patients undergoing memory assessment and 166 were cognitively healthy controls. Patients were grouped according to the diagnosis received: dementia disorder, mild cognitive impairment, or subjective cognitive impairment. Data collection included participants’ demographic characteristics. The patients’ cognitive test results and diagnoses were collected from their medical records. Healthy controls underwent the same cognitive tests as the patients. The mobility test Timed Up-and-Go (TUG single-task) and two dual-task tests including TUG (TUGdt) were carried out: TUGdt naming animals and TUGdt months backwards. The outcomes registered were: time scores for TUG single-task and both TUGdt tests, TUGdt costs (relative time difference between TUG single-task and TUGdt), number of different animals named, number of months recited in correct order, number of animals per 10 s, and number of months per 10 s. Logistic regression models examined associations between TUG outcomes pairwise between groups.ResultsThe TUGdt outcomes “animals/10 s” and “months/10 s” discriminated significantly (p < 0.001) between individuals with an early-stage dementia diagnosis, mild cognitive impairment, subjective cognitive impairment, and healthy controls. The TUGdt outcome “animals/10 s” showed an odds ratio of 3.3 (95% confidence interval 2.0–5.4) for the groups dementia disorders vs. mild cognitive impairment. TUGdt cost outcomes, however, did not discriminate between any of the groups.ConclusionsThe novel TUGdt outcomes “words per time unit”, i.e. “animals/10 s” and “months/10 s”, demonstrate high levels of discrimination between all investigated groups. Thus, the TUGdt tests in the current study could be useful as complementary tools in diagnostic assessments. Future studies will be focused on the predictive value of TUGdt outcomes concerning dementia risk for individuals with mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive impairment.

Misdiagnosis analysis: 120 patients with nasal extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma in head and neck

Objective:The Clinicopathological characteristics and the reason of misdiagnosis about nasal extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma in head and neck（ENKTL） are analysised to raise awareness and reduce misdiagnosis. Method:One hundred and twenty patients with ENKTL, diagnosed pathologically in head and neck from May 2010 to April 2018, were analyzed retrospectively. All cases were divided into misdiagnosed group and non-misdiagnosed group according to whether there were misdiagnosis and mistreatment before diagnosis. The differences of clinicopathological characteristics between the two groups before and after diagnosis were compared. The differences of overall survival（OS） between the two groups after treatment were also compared. Result:The misdiagnosis rate of this study was 71.7%, and they were misdiagnosed as sinusitis, nasal polyps, upper respiratory tract infection and so on. On the whole, the 1-year OS, 3-year OS and 5-year OS were 77.8%, 65.9% and 49.3% respectively. There was no significant difference in sex, age, first symptom, initial site, B symptom, superficial lymph node enlargement and weight loss between two groups before diagnosis（P>0.05）, however, there were significant differences in relative specific signs, hospital grade and time from first visit to definite diagnosis（P<0.05）. The proportion of the high-level hospitals in the first visit hospital was significantly lower than that in the non-misdiagnosed group, while the time from the first visit to the final diagnosis was significantly longer than that in the non-misdiagnosed group. There was no significant difference in international prognostic index（IPI） score, expression of Ki-67, therapeutic schedule, chemotherapy regimen for patients receiving chemotherapy, and radiation dose for patients receiving radiotherapy after diagnosis between the two groups（P>0.05）, but there was a significant difference in the clinical stages of Ann Arbor between the two groups（P<0.05）. The clinical staging of the misdiagnosed group was later than that of the non-misdiagnosed group. The 1-year OS, 3-year OS and 5-year OS were 73.6%, 59.3% and 43.2% in the misdiagnosed group respectively, and 88.2%, 82.4% and 64.2% in the non-misdiagnosed group respectively. The overall survival rate in the misdiagnosis group was lower than that in the non-misdiagnosed group, and the overall survival time was lower than that in the non-misdiagnosed group. However, there was no significant difference in the overall survival rates between the early stage（Ⅰ and Ⅱ） and the advanced stage（Ⅲ and Ⅳ） of Ann Arbor（P>0.05）. Conclusion:The non-specific clinical and the complexity of pathological features of ENKTL in head and neck might cause misdiagnosis, which leads to prolonged time from first visit to definite diagnosis, thus results in disease progression, and ultimately may lead to decreased overall survival rate. To avoid the misdiagnosis and early diagnosis is very important.